


Put Your Arms Around Me

by bm_binger



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Lena Luthor Knows Kara Danvers Is Supergirl, Mostly Fluff, if u can call it that, lena has slight trauma, lillian is still awful, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-08 04:13:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17974268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bm_binger/pseuds/bm_binger
Summary: Kara notices Lena always wakes up in a state of anxious panic. It doesn't take long for her to find out why.





	Put Your Arms Around Me

**Author's Note:**

> This is unbetad and unedited. All mistakes are mine. This was written after a month long drought, meaning I'm rusty and slightly bad than usual.

When Lena was a child and her mother was still alive, they lived in a small studio apartment near the coast. Scarce of money even with her mom working two jobs, Lena didn't have the luxury of owning a room for herself.

That, and her mom thinks her too young to be left alone to sleep. So they share a tiny twin size bed, old and rickety. But it was a bed where Lena found most comforted, with her mom beside her and happy dreams of the two cradling her in her sleep.

Until  _ that _ day came.

With the sun filtering in through the broken blinds her mother found at a garage sale for two dollars, Lena awoke on an empty bed. The side her mom usually slept on cold and haunting.

Even at her young age, it was then that Lena sensed the feeling of dread crawling wickedly at the crevices of her mind. It was unlike her mom to leave without waking her or having her tag along. Her mother never left her side, even when she has to go to work, she has Lena accompanying her. An arrangement that prevented Lena from entering formal preschool.

Little Lena gently eased from the bed, “Mom?” She called through the little apartment, sight on the bathroom door where she's sure her mom is.

When no answer was forthcoming, she gently padded across the studio to the bathroom door directly parallel to the bed, rapping her tiny knuckles against the hard wood.

“Mama?”

The door eased slightly. Offering a sliver of space to see inside. Little Lena pushed the door all the way, before it stopped halfway, hitting against something.

When she took a peek, green eyes curious and still a little sleepy, the sight before her would haunt her throughout her formative years.

When she was adopted by the Luthors, Lillian already showing disdain for her presence, her new mother learnt of this weakness.

Her fear of being left alone was deeply exploited.

She would go to bed, slightly comforted with the knowledge that her adopted mother and brother were sleeping in a room down the hall, still anxious of the big house and its vast rooms, just to wake up the next morning to learn that her mother and brother were gone on a spontaneous trip.

Lionel never learned of this because the man himself was rarely home.

Through the years, her fear never abated, and she always woke up feeling anxious and fearful knowing that she's alone. Sometimes, tears would accompany such feeling and it would spark frustration within her and anger for such weakness. And yet, she eventually  learned to mask her feelings quite well.

That is, until Kara Danvers.

Kara didn't know of this story– this weakness, Lena hadn't shared this particular stuff about herself yet. Afraid to be too vulnerable at such an early start of their relationship. Afraid she'll scare Kara by appearing too clingy and needy. Afraid her fears would be casted aside. Afraid to bare herself to be anything but the confident CEO she has always strived to be seen.

Kara didn't know of this about Lena, so she didn't think it a big deal when she awoke feeling invigorated and happy with Lena beside her still sleeping soundly. She didn't think it a big deal when she rose early to start on breakfast and surprise her lovely girlfriend a meal– everyone loves a surprise meal.

She didn't think it a big deal, until she heard Lena's sharp intake of breath and suddenly racing heart.

Worried, she turned off the stove and hurried to her room to find Lena already on the way out herself, chest heaving in short bursts and green eyes afraid.

“Hey, I'm here. What happened?” She soothed, hands reaching out to frame Lena's face, their foreheads touching, Kara's eyes raking all over Lena's face.

Lena held Kara's hands on her cheeks, breathing deeply to calm her racing heart.  _ You're okay, you're okay, you're okay, don't be stupid. Don't be stupid. You're not alone. Grow up. Grow up. GROW UP.  _  When she felt the panic subsiding and her anxiety withdrawing, she opened her eyes and met worried blue ones. “I'm fine, just a nightmare.” She smiled, hoping to seem reassuring but coming up short.

Unconvinced, Kara dragged her thumb soothingly across Lena's cheekbones, eyes still tinted with worry. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” She breathed, placing a chaste, grateful, good morning kiss to Kara's lips before breaking away to walk towards the kitchen.

“You cooked breakfast?”

Kara answered an affirmative, but her worry wasn't sated though she didn't push Lena to talk. She learned early on that giving Lena space until she's ready is the way of getting her to open up as oppose to prodding incessantly.

She just doesn't know if it's something she did to warrant such fear.

–

The second time Lena woke in an empty bed, Kara was just coming back from an early emergency call from the DEO.

A bag of bagels in hand for breakfast, she was greeted by the sight of her girlfriend at the same state as before. Breathing in short gasps, green eyes wild and afraid, while telltale signs of tears alarmed her to no end.

Forgetting the bagels, she rushed to her Lena, smoothing out her hair in which she hopes is comforting. “Hey, hey–” she shushed softly, “—are you okay? Is it another nightmare?”

But no answer was voiced. Instead, Lena pulled Kara into a hug, breathing in shakily while she buried her face in Kara's chest.

When she felt her heart rate slow down into a calm rhythm, she sighed again before withdrawing. “I'm fine. I'm sorry.”

“No need to apologize. Do you want to talk about it?”

The answering shake of the head had Kara biting her lip. “Are you–”

“Yes, Kara. Can we not talk about it, please?” Lena implored.

Kara hesitated, before nodding. Reminding herself that nothing good came out of forcing Lena to talk.

But she can't have her girlfriend still feeling anxious, so she extracted herself from the hug, feeling Lena's hold tightening, she looked at green eyes to find that same fear once again. She threaded their fingers together, kissing the back of Lena's hand. “I'm just gonna change.”

“O-okay.” Lena replied, still reluctant to let go but did anyway.

_ Stupid. Stupid. Stop being childish. Stop being clingy. Stop. Stop. Stop. _

When Kara changed into her pajamas once again, she wasted no time climbing into bed and pulling Lena into her arms.

She placed a soft kiss on Lena's head until she felt the smaller girl relax in her embrace.

“I'm here when you're ready.”

Lena's answer is in the form of burying deeper into Kara's strong arms and kissing onto the underside of her jaw.

“Love you.”

\---

The third time, Kara is determined to get onto the bottom of this.

So when she hurried to her room once again at the sound of Lena's racing heart beat, breakfast forgotten, she didn't waste any second  and gathered the CEO in her arms in an embrace. Lena buried her face under Kara's chin, breaths shaky, and trying hard to suppress her tears.

“Baby, what's wrong?” Kara tightened her hold around Lena because she knows from experience that Lena likes the pressure.

A shake of the head is her only answer.

Kara sighed, “I'm worried. Please, please tell me?” She pulled back to look into green eyes. Pleading and worried and heart breaking at the anxiety colored there.

“Baby–”

“It's stupid.”

Oceanic blue eyes softened further. Soft but firm hands cupped her cheeks in a manner that demanded attention but never commanding.

“Whatever it is upsetting you isn't stupid. It matters and I hope to fix it because it worries and hurts me to know that you're hurting of something I don't know. Are you having nightmares? Is Lex sending threats again?–”

Lena shook her head, hand coming up to hold Kara's.

“No. It's– it's childish. And something I've always hated about myself.”

“Lena..” Kara said softly.

Lena closed her eyes as if pained, before finally relenting in a small voice brimming with anxious insecurity.

“I'm scared of waking up in bed alone after sleeping knowing I have someone beside me. A-Always have been. It started when my m-mother died and I woke up alone in bed just to find h-her in the bathroom swimming in her own b-blood. I–I.. I don't like waking up without you.” Tears flowed unbidden down her cheeks, her throat clogged with a lump she is desperately trying to swallow down.

“Oh, Lena.” Kara wiped away her tears, blue eyes soft and full of love. It took everything in Lena not to hide away in shame of such childish weakness.

“Is it–is it alright if I wake you instead whenever I'm called for Supergirl emergencies? Will that make you feel better?”

Lena nodded, heart full of love for Kara and her genuine nature.

“Yeah.”

Kara kissed Lena once more, partly in apology for the times she left her alone in bed and partly in thanks for sharing a vulnerability to her that she obviously kept close to her chest.

“I'm sorry, I didn't know. I promise I'll wake you up when I have to go.”

Lena, feeling warm and full of love, only nods before quietly muttering an, “Okay.”

Forever grateful and perplexed as to how and why the universe would give her such an amazing person.

\---

The next time Kara woke up before Lena, she didn't bother getting up to start with a surprise breakfast nor did the DEO demand her presence. She woke up and watched her girlfriend sleep, tracing the contours of her face and marvelling at the serenity and beauty she is graced with.

When Lena's eyelids fluttered open, emerald meeting sapphire, she didn't feel the anxiety crawling through her nor the dread seeping into her but instead, she felt the familiar butterflies she's come to associate with Kara among the other positive feelings she invokes within her.

Both smiling softly and ethereal under the glow of the early morning sunlight, they met halfway in a chaste kiss that conveyed thousands of positive emotions. All varying degrees of love, warmth, and contentment.

When they broke off the kiss, Kara resumed her gentle stroking of Lena's face while the CEO gazed at her girlfriend softly.

When their eyes meet again, they both exchanged loving smiles.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”


End file.
